A local Cub Scout leader and her son are accused of selling heroin and marijuana to local college students and residents in Radnor Township.
Joann Badey, 53, George Badey, 24, and Jean Boller, 24, were charged with several drug-related offenses.
Police say they first received information stating Joann Badey and her son George were selling drugs out of their home in the township's Garrett Hill community. Their customers included students from nearby colleges as well as local residents, police said.
The mother and son also sold drugs to undercover officers during the police investigation, according to officials.
Police executed search and arrest warrants at their home on Nov. 13. They then arrested Joann and George Badey as well as Boller, who police say was near the house at the time.
Police confiscated a pound of marijuana with an estimated street value of $4,000, $800 in currency, nine packets of heroin, prescription bottles with medicine inside, drug paraphernalia, scales, pipes and bongs from the home, investigators said.
Shocked neighbors of Joann Badey told NBC10 she is known in the community as a sweet and friendly woman as well as a longtime Cub Scout Master of Pack 371 in Radnor. Her ex-husband and father of George Badey is the former Radnor Township Commissioner and the current chair of the Democratic Party in Radnor.
"If you're going to come to Radnor and try to sell those kinds of drugs to our students and our residents you will be arrested regardless of who you are or who you are related to, period," said Radnor Township Police Superintendent Bill Colarulo.
Police say George Badey was arrested several times prior in Pennsylvania and Maryland on similar drug-related charges.
READ: Hurricane's Winter Forecast: How Much Snow?!
Occasionally, I will try to summarize some of the new, important, or especially interesting news in the field of Climate Change. This is one of those times.
THE BEST GRAPHICS YET!
There have probably been hundreds of different graphics used to illustrate climate change, and the role greenhouse gases like CO2 have on global temperatures. Many have been accurate, in my opinion, but some have been misleading, over-simplified, or confusing. It’s a very complex subject, and it’s hard to tell the whole story (or even most of the story) in a single graphic. But I finally saw one last week. It’s from www.bloomberg.com.
It takes multiple animations to come to the conclusion that is the basis for the general agreement among climate scientists worldwide. They’ve looked carefully at every potential factor influencing global temperatures. This isn’t just a couple of scientists doing a couple of studies. The animation is the result of dozens of research papers involving hundreds of climate scientists over many years, from “more than a dozen countries." This is the current state of the science.
There are a lot of things of note. For example, volcanoes and aerosols have had a negative influence on temperatures. If greenhouse gases hadn’t increased, global temperatures would have been going DOWN in recent decades. The only way to explain the actual temperature rise is by including greenhouse gases, such as CO2 (carbon dioxide). If this animation doesn’t convince you of the important role of CO2 in overall global warming, nothing will.
“NO SINGLE STORM CAN BE BLAMED ON CLIMATE CHANGE”-CAN’T SAY THAT ANY MORE
I used to say it all the time. So did climate scientists. Even those convinced of the overall impact of climate change were not willing to attribute individual storms to that phenomenon. Well, knowledge in science evolves, and we are now evolving into more and more evidence that those early statements weren’t totally true. Some weather disasters can apparently be attributed to climate change. There’s even a new branch of the science called “attribution science.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are people (generally politically motivated ones) who like to "blame" every extreme weather event on earth to climate change. A drought in the desert, a super typhoon hitting Japan, a heat wave in the Middle East, or a snowstorm in Boston can not necessarily be blamed, or even partially attributed to climate change. But that doesn’t mean the entire attribution science is “bunk." We have to look at it case by case.
And that is what some organizations are attempting. A recent report published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society addressed 28 individual extreme events in 2014. There were 32 groups of scientists from around the world assigned to this massive task. There is no way to say with 100% certainty that 100% of an extreme event was due to climate change. But there are ways to calculate with increasing degrees of certainty that an event either wouldn’t have happened without climate change or would have been significantly less severe. This type of report has been done for a few years now, and more and more scientists have been taking these things seriously.
In the current report, events including droughts, heat waves, fires, floods, cold, snow, hurricanes, and even sea ice extent were studied. Here’s a map showing the locations.
It turns out that about half of those events could be tied to climate change. For example, the wildfires in Northern California, hurricanes around Hawaii (which were even worse this year), drought in East Africa and part of Syria, record heat waves in Australia, Europe, China, and Argentina, and extreme rainfall in Southern France were found to be connected to climate change.
If that is all you heard in whatever media outlet you follow, you didn’t hear the whole story, though. The studies also found no apparent link to the extreme winter storms in North America or the United Kingdom, droughts in parts of Asia, the western Pacific active typhoon season, or the water shortage in Brazil.
In this evolving science, it’s important to be ‘fair” in reporting both sides of the attributions. Just reporting on one side or the other is simple bias, usually done for political reasons.
2015-HOTTEST YEAR ON EARTH-BY FAR
(yes, of course it was hotter when the earth was a molten mass-I’m talking about the past hundreds of years or more)
Global temperatures are calculated using different methods by different organizations and countries, but they are remarkably similar. One place might say 1998 was warmer than 2010, but the general idea is agreed on: the warmest years have all occurred in the past 20 years (most in the past 10 years-the record El Nino year of 1998 is the rare exception). The methods, which sometimes include “correcting” inaccurate numbers, may raise a stink in the non-climate-science world, but are an accepted part of calculations of the past. There is no conspiracy among hundreds of scientists to “cook the books," giving results that aren’t real. Has there ever been a conspiracy so large and widespread? How could such a thing stay a secret? The idea is simply laughed at by most climate scientists. For the others: it just gets them mad.
So, with that preface, here is one simple illustration of just how warm 2015 is compared to all the other warm years in the recent past. It’s not even close. You might say: “Well, the scale is tiny-only 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit”. Yes it is. But tenths of a degree are important when talking about global temperatures.
The near-record El Nino this year is clearly the main factor in this temperature “spike”. But 2015 is going to end up much warmer than the other record El Nino of 1998. El Nino’s are simply warmer than they used to be. And La Nina’s are also warmer than they used to be.
Police are seeking the public’s help in finding a missing Philadelphia girl.
Adora Wilson, 11, has been missing since Nov. 12. when she was last seen at 3 p.m. on 52nd and Race streets.
Investigators say Wilson has a mental health condition which requires medication that she is currently not in possession of.
Wilson lives in Sharon Hill but was staying with DHS. Investigators say she may be in the area of the 4100 block of Parkside Avenue where her biological mother lives.
Wilson is a black female standing 4-foot-11 and weighing 90 pounds with brown eyes and braided black hair. She was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue pants and was carrying a book bag.
If you have any information on Wilson’s whereabouts, please call the Central Detective Division at 215-686-3093 or 911.
The flashlight on his own gun saved the life of a police officer during a tense standoff at a suburban Philadelphia motel in which a North Carolina murder suspect was found dead.
"They say God is everywhere," said Fred Harran, public safety director for Bensalem, Pennsylvania. "God was in Knights Inn on Nov. 7."
The unidentified Bensalem Police officer and other investigators were searching for James Miller, a man who was wanted for a parole violation for an auto theft conviction. They received information indicating Miller was inside room 142 at the Knights Inn on Route 1 in Trevose around 3 p.m. on Nov. 7.
The officers knocked on the door preparing to arrest Miller. Unbeknownst to them, two other people were also inside the room with Miller: Lloyd Wayne Franklin, 34, and Jennifer Michelle Lanning, 38. Franklin and Lanning were suspects in the murder of an elderly couple in North Carolina back on Oct. 29.
Police say Franklin and Lanning, who were also suspects in several pharmacy robberies, traveled to Pennsylvania and picked up Miller on the way as he was hitchhiking.
When the Bensalem Officer walked into the motel room, Franklin was hiding inside a closet armed with a gun, police said.
"As a police officer drew his weapon and opened the door slowly he was met by gunfire immediately by Mr. Franklin," Harran said.
Harran told NBC10 the bullet fired from Franklin's gun struck the officer's weapon. Amazingly, the flashlight under the barrel of the officer's gun stopped the bullet. The incident happened so fast that the officer didn't even realize his own gun had been struck and instead thought it was jammed. The officers quickly got out of the motel and a SWAT team was notified, leading to a standoff.
Lanning eventually surrendered and told police Franklin and Miller were still inside the room, officials said. Miller held police at bay for about 2 1/2 hours but eventually surrendered as well, police said.
When the standoff finally ended, Franklin was found dead in the room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Lanning and Miller were both arrested.
Lanning is back in North Carolina where she is facing murder charges. Miller is also in custody.
"Two bad guys in custody," Harran said. "And one that'll be buried."
The Pennsylvania state Senate is nearing a vote on legislation to completely eliminate $14 billion in school property taxes by replacing the revenue with higher state taxes on sales and income.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said a vote is possible as early as Tuesday.
He says, if it passes, it would replace a week-old agreement between Senate Republican leaders and Gov. Tom Wolf to pursue legislation to reduce property taxes by $2 billion as part of a wider deal to end a 5-month-old budget stalemate.
A similar bill failed in the House two years ago, 138 to 59.
Under the bill, school districts would get a regular inflationary increase.
Districts wanting to spend above that allotment would have to win voter approval to increase local income taxes.
The 31-year-old teacher indicted on charges of child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child after cellphone video surfaced showing her manhandling a child at Hoboken Apple Montessori School in New Jersey says she doesn't deserve to go to jail.
Kelli Dugan spoke to NBC 4 New York outside court Monday after she was offered a plea deal in which she would receive probation with 180 days in county jail in exchange for pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child. The child abuse count against her would be dropped.
Dugan and her lawyer have time to consider the offer. She is due back in court Nov. 30. On Monday, though, Dugan said she shouldn't have to spend any time behind bars.
"I had to bring the girl inside the school because she was spitting and throwing a tantrum," Dugan said. "Inside the school, there's a video that shows me taking a paper towel to wipe her mouth and putting back on her shoes because she had kicked them off. There were two other people inside the classroom; I did not hurt the child."
The clip of Dugan obtained by NBC 4 New York in May shows her in red, sitting and holding a 2-year-old girl by her legs, preventing her from moving freely. The teacher is heard cursing in the video; she yells at the child and eventually swings her over a fence before dragging her back inside.
Dugan was among the five teachers, aides and officials fired from the school after several videos, including the one featuring Dugan, emerged showing workers inappropriately handling children. A grand jury opted to indict Dugan, but cleared another one of the employees in the videos.
As she headed into an initial court appearance last month, a tearful Dugan exclusively told NBC 4 New York she doesn't really remember that day but said it was probably just a bad day. She said she has seen the video and understands why people would get "the wrong idea" but insists she loves the kids she worked with at Hoboken Apple Montessori School and misses them greatly.
She said she probably could have handled the situation better than she did.
Dugan's attorney, Anthony Carbone, has said the prosecutor is making an example of his client. He says the allegations against her do not rise to the level of the charges in the indictment. Dugan has pleaded not guilty.
After the videos emerged, Apple Montessori, which runs 17 schools in New Jersey, said it implemented a comprehensive five-point plan to reinforce staff training, enhance security, and strengthen protocols for child safety and security.
"Because this matter is part of litigation, the school is placed in an awkward position regarding what can be shared through the media – even when challenging inaccurate and exaggerated claims," Apple Montessori said in a statement after Dugan's initial hearing last month. "However, it is important to emphasize that the school’s ownership took immediate and definitive action when learning of the incident – including the immediate termination of the employee involved."
"The behavior depicted in a related video clearly is inconsistent with the school’s reputation for high-quality education, which has been maintained by more than 2,000 teachers and staff who have cared for students during the school’s 42-year history," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the parents of the two children have filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages from Apple Montessori Schools and several employees for negligence, emotional damage, breach of contract, assault and other charges.
A prisoner walked away from a group home early Monday, said Pennsylvania State Police.
David Allen Spurlin Jr. escaped from ADAPPT on Walnut Street in Reading shortly after midnight early Monday, police announced Tuesday.
Investigators didn’t reveal why the 25-year-old who stands around 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighs around 185 pounds was court-appointed to the facility.
ADAPPT is a group home residential reentry facility that has been operating in Reading since 1992 and helps parolees and soon-to-be-released convicts learn skills and get treatment to prevent recidivism, according to site operator CEC.
Police asked anyone with knowledge of Spurlin’s whereabouts to contact the reading barracks at 610-378-4011.
